


The Four He Left Behind

by Phurtershep



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Nightmares, No Beta, Pining, Psychological Trauma, Regret, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Trauma, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:08:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29528949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phurtershep/pseuds/Phurtershep
Summary: Sunny jumps from the roof of the hospital.Aubrey, Hero and Kel aren't able to stop him.Basil is still in the hospital from when Sunny and him fought.Where do they go from here?
Comments: 70
Kudos: 353





	1. Broken Hearts Sometimes Never Heal

Hero had covered their eyes so they wouldn't see the impact, but... With how quiet the morning was, they heard them… his screams of agony as he died. Kel vomited almost instantly.

"Why..." Aubrey sputtered, getting away from Hero and getting her first sight of what was left of Sunny. "How did he..." 

His final words rang in their heads. "I killed Mari." He said, shocking Aubrey enough for her to let go of him. She stumbled backwards, before charging forward to grab him again "You aren't going to lie and get out of this! You can't!" Then he started fighting back. They weren't just trying to restrain him, he was doing everything in his power to get over the edge of the railing. 

Why was it so short?

All he needed was to get enough of his body over the edge to fall, and he was struggling like an animal to get over. 

And now he was gone.

The only source of answers to the questions he left them with, to all the questions he had left to answer.

Sunny left them once again, only this time forever.

* * *

The rest of the day was a blur. Aubrey never went home, he had to drag her just to get her to leave the hospital. They never went to the side of the building where he fell. They couldn’t. 

Sunny’s parents knew, didn’t they? 

They knew what really happened to Mari.

They let him think she hung herself, let him blame himself for years that it was his fault… 

They left Sunny to take one more life, even if it was just his own.

Why? 

Hero wanted to vomit like Kel had, to expunge what he felt in any way possible. Yet, he couldn’t. 

For some reason, the police interviews were short. Even if they were the only ones who saw it happen in person, there was a camera on the roof. There wasn’t any doubt about it, Sunny had committed suicide. 

Why? Why?  **Why? WHY? WHY?!**

The same question screamed inside Hero’s head, over and over and over. 

Why would Sunny take two of the most important people in his life from him? Why would he rip apart all their friendships? Why would he attack Basil like that? It was evidently severe enough for Basil to feel he had to use lethal force in return, judging by his eye, but…

It just wasn’t like him. 

It didn’t make sense. 

“Hero?” Aubrey said, shaking his shoulder. Hero snapped out of his introspection, and looked over at someone who may as well have been his sister. He had been trying to drop the big brother act, but…

He hadn’t realized it, but part of him was still trapped in the past. He wanted it back. He wanted Sunny back…

He still wanted Mari back.

After four years, he still wasn’t over it. Now he questioned if he might ever be.

“Sorry, I’m just…” Hero sighed, motioning vaguely with his hands. “I don’t have a clue. I don’t… have a fucking clue.” Kel sucked in air, making a distinct noise. Hero was swearing, and Kel knew that was never good. After all, when Mari died…

Kel was the one who was there, the one who had to take in everything when he finally snapped. He couldn’t do that again. 

“What do we do now?” Aubrey muttered, staring at the TV in Kel and Hero’s living room. It was the evening news, plainly reading out the weather and some minor local news of the last day. What happened to Sunny was still in the hands of the police, so it wouldn’t be out until tomorrow more than likely. It was just background noise, something to let their eyes and ears focus on something else. 

Kel and Hero’s parents were giving them space after the news, thankfully.

“We gotta find out what happened… right?” Kel said, his happy-go-lucky demeanor entirely faded, “For ourselves if nothing else.”

“The only person I could even think to speak to is Basil, he was… he was there that night, wasn’t he?” Aubrey said, resting her head on one of her knees.

“What makes you think that?” Hero asked.

“He said he was going there early, right? He wanted to… see them practice.”

“I’m shocked you remember that…” Kel muttered, “But… yeah. I remember too. Sunny wouldn’t have been able to do that to Mari alone, either… he would have needed help.”

“When’s he gonna wake up anyways? It should’ve only been a few hours, right?” 

“Yeah, he only had bruising, not even a concussion.” Hero replied, “I think visiting hours are over by now though.”

A thick silence spread between the trio, weighing on their shoulders.

“We made a promise, right? We won’t abandon each other. Not again.” Hero spoke, finally breaking the silence.

“And it’s already been broken.” Aubrey said, “So what?”

“I’m not going to. Kel isn’t either.” Hero said, looking at his brother. “I promise.”

“Just… shut up.” she said, waving her hand in front of her face. “I don’t have a damn clue what to think right now.”

“None of us do.” Kel replied, “I’m… I’m scared.”

“I guess things will go back to how they were just a week ago.” Aubrey replied, “For better or for worse.”

“No, things weren’t exactly going well here.” Hero said, “I don’t want that for any of you. We… we need to try to fix this.”

“Fix what, exactly?” Aubrey cut in, the sharp edge in her voice, making Hero flinch. “There isn’t a damn thing left to fix. That selfish piece of shit took any chance of it with him.”

Silence.

Hero could hear his heartbeat in his ears. 

Aubrey looked back down at her feet, fiddling with the cusp of her socks. 

“Forget it, I shouldn’t be here.” Aubrey said, starting to stand up before Hero put a hand on her shoulder.

“I want to listen to you, please.” Hero pleaded, meeting her gaze as she glared back at him. 

“Why? What the fuck do  _ you _ get out of it? Once this shit is over you get to go right back to college like nothing happened. Kel and I are stuck here. WE have to handle this, so why do you-...” She was interrupted by her own hiccups, tears streaming down her face, “Why do you care?”

“You two mattered to me this whole time, we were all just trying to forget in our own different ways… and none of what we did worked. We’re right back here, right where we started.” Kel said. 

“That’s… mature of you.” 

“Heh, maybe…” 

Hero still hadn’t responded, partially because he wasn’t sure how. Aubrey and Kel were starting to take note though, judging from how they were focused on him. Fuck Fuck Fuck  _ Fuck Fuck FUCK _ . He needed to think of something, he had to be the older brother, he… he…

Tears were streaming down his face too now. 

Kel was right, they were right where they started. 

“H-Hero?” Aubrey sputtered, “I’m…” 

“You’re…” he sighed, visibly shaking, “You’re not… entirely wrong. I shouldn’t care. If… I wasn’t still stuck on Mari after four years, maybe I wouldn’t. I can’t move on, not yet, especially not after… this.” he waved his arms in the air, entirely unsure of what to even think. He lowered his hands and quickly buried his face into them. 

“Should we just… sleep on it?”

“Maybe…” Aubrey sighed, “I can’t go back to that fucking place now, you’ve seen it.”

“Sleep in my bed, I’ll take the couch.” Hero coughed, wiping away his tears with his sleeve. 

“Hero, I can take the couch. Seriously.” 

“And I’m being serious. You need something comfortable.”

“You say that like you don’t.” Kel interjected, looking his brother in the eyes.

“Well there’s two beds and three of us.” Hero shrugged, internally relieved to have something else to talk about. “I’m not making a guest sleep on the couch, and I’m not kicking you out of your own bed.”

“I’m the house equivalent of a hitchhiker right now, Hero. It’s-”

“I’m sleeping on the couch.”

He didn’t mean to say it as an order, but that’s how it came out.  _ Fuck.  _ He was letting it bubble up again.

They didn’t argue about it anymore. The three went up the stairs, and after he grabbed a blanket, only Hero went back down. 

The stairs had a funny feeling to them that night, like there was something watching him on the way down.


	2. Didn't he care?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aubrey has a lot of things bouncing around inside of her head, and trying to get the truth out of Basil doesn't help in the slightest.

Yesterday’s events hit Aubrey the second she woke up. This wasn’t her bed. This wasn’t her house. Sunny was dead. Sunny killed… Sunny killed Mari. He made sure it stuck in their heads. By… by…

She needed to get into the bathroom.

She’d learned to be silent from her parents, back when they were even present. They made sure she wasn’t an “issue” like other girls. 

When she vomited, she made sure nobody knew. 

She’d never done it often, but… 

The image of Sunny’s mangled body on the concrete was burned into her memory.

Time to look presentable again. 

Wash your face, wash out your mouth, act like nothing’s wrong…

She was fucked up.

Did her mother even notice she never came back home? It wasn’t like she ever checked. Aubrey had her space, away from the filth of every other part of the shithole she was forced to call home. Normally she could just ignore it, spend all the time she could away from the damn place. 

It wasn’t home, it was a place with a bed and her belongings.

Home… 

She didn’t have a home, not anymore. She hadn’t in a long time. 

How long could she crash here before she was kicked out? They’d be sick of her before long. Everyone was sick of her before long. The hooligans… it was only a matter of time before they hated her too. She almost  _ killed _ Basil, there was no way they didn’t know. They would have heard her outburst. The only reason she wasn’t worse than Sunny was because of Hero. 

Hero…

She would have killed two people. Two people because she was too weak to try and fix her own mistakes. Now one of them was dead, and the other was in the hospital for God knows how long. 

“Aubrey, you in there?” Kel said through the door, making Aubrey jump as he knocked. 

“Y-Yeah.” she sputtered, “I’m fine. Didn’t think you’d be up this early.”

“I… can’t sleep well. Not after… that.”

“What time is it, anyways?” Aubrey asked, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair looked like shit. Her face looked like shit. She just… looked like shit. At least she looked how she felt.

“A bit past seven,” Kel answered, “Jeez, i’m almost never up this early during summer…”

“We should… do something. To take our minds off this.”

“Maybe… what though?”

Aubrey just silently opened the door, punctuating the action with a sigh. “Not a damn clue, but I do know I need a hairbrush.”

“Oh, let me ask my mom then. She’ll be happy I’m up this early anyways.” 

“That or she’ll think you never slept at all.”

Her retort went unanswered, as Kel slowly opened the door to his parent’s room and said good morning to his just then rising parents. Would Hero even be awake by now? He was a college student after all, they weren’t exactly known for being early risers…

The stairs gave her an eerie feeling as she went down them, finding Hero still asleep on the couch. He didn’t exactly look… comfortable, regardless of how pleasant said couch was. He was tensing in his sleep, like he was having nightmares. Aubrey remembered one time S-

Nevermind.

She didn’t want to vomit twice today. 

She needed something to fill her stomach again, water wasn’t going to cut it. 

She knew for a fact Kel couldn’t cook, as well as that she would probably end up destroying anything she used before making something edible. She didn’t want to wake Hero or bother their parents, so…

She was used to just waiting things out.

“Aubrey?” Kel called from upstairs, “You down there?”

Right, the hairbrush. As per usual, she asked for something then instantly moved on with her own thoughts. How did anyone fucking stand her? He went down the stairs, clearly looking for her. Why not just say something? Let him know where she was? Maybe just ask about food. Would that be hard? Would it be so difficult to just be a bother? She already had him going all over his damn house as an errand boy-

“There you are! Here, you definitely need it.” Kel said, trying his best to put on a teasing voice. Trying to lighten the mood, like usual. Even if it didn’t work in the slightest, she appreciated the attempt. He was trying to make things normal…

“Thanks.” she finally answered, slowly taking the hair brush. How did her hair get so knotted in one night? Was Hero’s pillow just cursed to give whoever rested their head on it the worst possible bedhead? 

“Think we should wake Hero up to make us breakfast?”

“We could just get something in town, you know.” 

“I want to be here when he wakes up.” Kel said, oddly firm despite the carefree demeanor he was trying to repair. “Uh, just in case, you know?”

“Yeah, he…” Aubrey began, pausing, “He looked like he was having a nightmare.”

“That’s because I was.” Hero said, stepping into the kitchen where the two were standing. “Morning.”

“You… feeling alright?” Aubrey forced out.

The question didn’t need an answer, everyone knew the answer was no. It was true of all of them. She knew that, but she asked anyway.

“My neck hurts quite a bit actually.” Hero answered after a few moments, avoiding the elephant in the room. “Probably should have taken my pillow too.”

“Hey, you wanted to sleep on the couch.” Aubrey shrugged, “If you want your bed back you’re free to take it.” 

“I’ll be fine.” 

“Uh-huh, sure.” Kel said, evidently forcing himself to grin.

“Okay, fuck this fake happy shit.” Aubrey said, “What are we going to do today?”

“I guess all we can do is see if Basil is awake yet, and if he is, if he’s even in any state to talk.” Kel replied, “And if he is, we get the truth out of him.”

“We need… a better plan than that. He doesn’t know Sunny isn’t… here anymore.”

“Then we tell him. We tell him the truth. I’m not going to fucking lie to him to get him to speak.” Aubrey said, “I’m through with the fucking lying.”

Hero just looked at her, like he was trying to peer into her brain. To see what she was thinking. After a few moments, he gave up and sighed. 

“Let’s just eat something then.” he remarked, opening the fridge.

Today was not going to be a pretty day.

Even after all these years, Hero still knew how to make a mean breakfast. Aubrey made a mental note to thank him later, but there wasn’t a good opportunity on the way there. Breaking the silence with it didn’t feel right.

They steered clear of the part of the building where Sunny had fallen. They weren’t ready, only whatever sick fuck called itself God knew when they would be. 

Thankfully, the person on staff in the morning didn’t take much note of them, not recognizing them as the people who’d been witness to a suicide just hours prior. 

Was that a good thing though?

She’d have time to ask herself later.

Right now, there was a certain blond accomplice that she needed answers from.

Basil was awake when they entered, and judging by the fear in his eyes he wasn’t expecting them. 

“H-Hello everyone.” he choked out. So he was also pretending he was fine. Figures.

He quickly became more anxious when they didn’t answer, reading their serious expressions. 

“Let… me do the talking guys.” Hero said lightly. Aubrey and Kel both took a seat on the chairs in the room, watching Hero and Basil.

“What’s… w-wrong?” Basil stuttered. Fuck, he was already losing it, what if he panics when they tell him? Freezes up and refuses to say anything? What if…

What if they lose him too?

“Basil, what happened on the night… on the night Mari died?”

Basil went paler than Aubrey thought possible, his skin becoming closer in shade to the whites of his eyes than to hers or Hero’s.

“Mari committed suicide.” Basil answered flatly.

“Sunny told us otherwise, Basil. Please… we just want to know what really happened.” 

“Then he was lying to you.”

“Look, for fucks sake Basil he’s DEAD!” Aubrey yelled, jumping to her feet, “HE’S FUCKING DEAD AND YOU WON’T GIVE US A SINGLE GOD DAMN REASON WHY! I LOVED HIM, BASIL. DID YOU KNOW THAT?” Kel, Hero and Basil stared in shock, all for different reasons. She could feel the hot tears streaming down her face now. “Just… fucking tell us.”

Basil didn’t answer. He didn’t move. If he wasn’t attached to a heart rate monitor, she might have thought he had died on the spot.

“He’s… dead? S-S-Sunny’s d-dead?”

Hero silently nodded, his eyes reflecting the tears he was holding back. 

“He jumped off the roof of the hospital last night. We… we saw it happen.”

Basil… started sobbing. 

“I just… wanted to protect him… Why would he…”

“What happened, Basil?” Hero repeated, “Please…”

“Sh-Shut up! Why didn’t you help him?! Why didn’t you stop him?!”

“Did you think we didn’t try to, you selfish piece of shit?! Do you think we wanted our friend to die?! HUH?!” Hero had to hold her back. God, she wished she had her bat right now. 

Basil’s eyes… they were cold. Despite how weak he was at the moment, how frail he was… he looked ready to die before he said anything. Why? Why would he do that? Didn’t he care at all? About any of them?

About Mari?

“Please Basil. You were closer to him than any of us… what the hell happened?” Hero pleaded, standing between Basil and Aubrey.

“I told you what happened.”

“Sunny risked his life for you in the lake, and this is how you repay him? Just having him be a murderer and nothing else? Some lunatic who murdered his sister and hung her corpse from a tree? I thought he was your friend.” She made sure each word was filled with the venom she felt filling her thoughts. 

“You were there when it happened Basil, or at least… after. You would have seen her, right?” Why did Hero keep trying to appeal to his morals? Evidently he didn’t care.

“I. Told. You. What. Happened.”

What the fuck was his problem? Why was he doing this? This wasn’t like him… this coldness, he was hiding something. 

She knew the best way to get him to speak, but Hero evidently didn’t want her to try it. 

“You’re a piece of  _ shit _ Basil.” Aubrey said plainly, leaving the room. Whatever happened after was in Kel and Hero’s hands, she didn’t care anymore. 

No… It wasn’t that she didn’t care. She knew she couldn’t do shit. She was powerless. She couldn’t do fucking anything that didn’t involve violence.

She wanted to scream. To break something,  _ anything _ . 

But she couldn’t. She was in a hospital, surrounded by people in awful condition and machinery that would keep them alive. She had to calm down… But how? 

She needed out of this fucking hospital.

“Aubrey?”

It was Kel. Of course it was him. He loved sticking his nose where it didn’t belong… 

“I need out of here, Kel. Right now.”

“Me too… I don’t get it.” Kel sighed, “He’s our only lead and we have nothing.”

“No, not our only lead.” Aubrey said, “His house. We need to go to his house. There might be something there.” 

“Yeah. Let’s… go. I’ll tell Hero.”

Hero was better with people, at least he tried to be. Aubrey and Kel were always better at  _ doing _ things. When they were younger, that usually meant getting into trouble and having Hero get them out of it. Now… it meant breaking into their dead friend’s house to see if there was anything related to a murder that had happened four years ago. Not exactly stellar odds, but… it was a place to start. It was  _ something _ . 

She hadn’t been in Sunny’s house since he’d locked himself away. She’d attempted visiting a few times, but always ended up leaving disappointed. It was empty, save for the most basic essentials and cardboard boxes. 

There was a portrait on the wall, one that she dared not look at. She knew who was in it. A once happy family…

“Hey, actually…” Kel remarked, moving over to the closet to the left of the stairs. 

“When we visited, Hero tried to point out this room, but Sunny acted like it just… didn’t exist.” 

“That’s…” Aubrey began, before being lost in thought. Odd? Intimidating? Intriguing? What the fuck was behind that door such that he wanted to pretend it didn’t exist? Maybe it just had a spider problem? Sunny hated spiders after all, like the- 

She had to stop. Sunny was… gone. Bringing back the memories just hurts. Like Dad. Both people who abandoned you. Let them sleep. Focus. 

Kel twisted the doorknob and slid the door open, accompanied by a squeak. It was dusty as hell inside there, like nobody had properly cleaned it in years… which was probably true. The light didn’t work, but there was enough light from the rest of the house to make out what as inside. Boxes, old clothes wrapped up in plastic, trash bags containing god knows what… and a wooden chest. Kel’s eyes lit up when he saw it. 

“I remember this…” he muttered, kneeling down to open it. “Oh… it’s locked.” 

“It has a lock?” Aubrey questioned, pulling at the lid too. 

Well, not for long. 

As it turns out, being locked inside an old closet for years on end doesn’t do good for wood or a crappy metal lock, and one good strong kick can break it open with ease.

“Jeez Aubrey! I get you probably wanted to break something, but…” Kel began, before going silent as he opened the toy chest. 

Inside, nestled on top of stuffed animals, was a broken, shattered violin.


	3. I Just Wanted to Help Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hero just needs Basil to speak, to tell the truth. 
> 
> Being cold isn't like him, right?

Breathe in, breathe out. Basil was still alive. Hero just needed to get him to talk.

Why was he being so cold? It wasn’t like him. Being that calm right after… all this. He was a crybaby, even after four years from what he heard…

“Basil. Mari… didn’t hang herself, did she?”

“She did.” Basil replied, in his same cold voice. He had to be putting up a front, so Hero just… had to break it. 

“Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t… but Sunny said she didn’t, and now he’s dead too. You’re the only one with the answer.”

“And I gave…” Basil began, his voice fizzling out.

A crack. 

“Basil, you want to protect him… don’t you?”

“I don’t want to talk to you, o-okay?” Basil said, his voice cracking. 

He’s… losing it. Why did he feel that was a good thing? What the hell happened to everyone… to him? 

“I’m not asking this to… hate him. I don’t want to think he murdered Mari. I… I just can’t accept it. It doesn’t feel right. They… they loved each other so much. And…” Hero’s croaked, trying to steady himself. “They’re both gone. We haven’t been able to go anywhere in four years believing a lie.”

Basil was silent for several minutes.

“He… really is gone, isn’t he?” Basil sniffed, finally breaking down into tears. 

“There’s no way he could have survived. I… I was the one who watched it.” 

“Why couldn’t you stop him?"

The words hung like a guillotine over Hero’s neck.

“All three of us tried, but he was fighting like an animal to get over. All he needed was to push away from us…” 

“I just wanted to help him… and now he’s…” 

Silence fell over the two again. 

“I want what I know of Sunny to be real. You were really there, weren’t you?”

Basil just nodded, not even looking up Hero.

“Why then? Why right before…” 

The Recital. He couldn’t say it, the words burned in his throat. 

It burned. 

“I don’t want to go back.” Basil said, “I can’t… I can’t I can’t I can’t!”

Hero held out his hand. He didn’t know if he wanted to be enraged, lost in his own sadness, or just… leave. Leave it all behind, like Aubrey said. He’d played it off but… she didn’t think he cared. How couldn’t he? 

Was he that terrible of a person?

“If you don’t, none of us are going to be able to leave it… that day. Aubrey… Aubrey’s hurt. She doesn’t get why you’d be afraid of talking, of accepting that it’s real… I’m struggling with it too.”

Basil just nodded again. 

“I’m here Basil. I made a promise to not abandon you guys… I plan to keep it.”

Basil remained silent, unmoving. Did he screw up? Would he ever speak? Would-

“It… w-wasn’t meant to happen.” Basil muttered, “It c-couldn’t have been Sunny… that’s what I t-told myself. That it was something behind him. S-Something… Something else. A-Anything else. I just didn’t want it to be him. I didn’t w-want my best friend to be a murderer… I was… scared.”

“He… was telling the truth then.” 

“Yeah…” Basil whispered, nodding. “They… got into an argument. He wanted to run, but Mari got in the way. She didn’t want him to leave. She wanted to know why… and… a-and…”

“It was the stairs, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah… he… he didn’t want her to be dead. He didn’t want to accept it. She was always there for him. She… she loved him.”

“We all loved her.”

“Yeah…”

“Basil… thank you. It’s… something.”

“You aren’t mad at me?”

“I don’t know what I am right now.” Hero waved. “I miss them.”

“I… m-miss them too. I was lying to protect him… but he just left me behind. Why? He told me everything… back before. What happened to him?”

“We… we don’t know. You heard Kel, yeah? They… wanted to check out his house.”

“When we… f-fought, and… and I…” Basil started with a gulp, “He started talking to himself. Like he was fighting something in his head. I… I think he l-lost to it.”

It. Something. What was Sunny fighting those four years? 

Why hadn’t he done something about it?

“I’m sorry for dropping all of this on you Basil.” Hero nodded, forcing himself to stay calm. He had to.

“No… it’s… it’s better this way.” Basil whispered. 

“I’ll see you again.” Hero promised, “Thank you.”

“Wait, Hero… Tell… Tell Aubrey I’m sorry.” Basil called out, “Please…”

“I will.” Hero answered, stepping out of Basil’s room and into the hallway.

Basil was… starting to open up.

Though… Now he’d had very little answered and more questions posed. 

There was only one place to go...

Where it happened.

At least tears weren’t out of place in a hospital, nobody would mind him as he left.


	4. Are we still friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kel looks around Sunny's house, and the things he finds hardly bring him any happiness.  
> He's lucky he has a friend with him.

So many thoughts flowed into Kel’s mind at once. 

It was Sunny’s violin, the same one they’d all bought together… for him. Kel had done a whole bunch of extra work anywhere he could to save up for it. His parents had been so proud of him for “using his energy to help others”, Hero and Mari were so proud…

And here it was, shattered and forgotten inside an old storage closet.

“No…” Aubrey whispered, taking a step back. She recognized it too, obviously. 

What was it doing here?

When Hero asked if it was packed, Sunny didn’t even really answer. Was it even really a lie? Here, in this box… it was technically packed. 

It just hadn’t been whole in who knows how long. 

“When… do you think it ended up like this?” Kel asked, fully aware there wasn’t a clear answer. 

“I don’t know. Maybe when Mari died, he…” Aubrey began, falling off as she spoke.

“Yeah…”

The two sat in silence, entrapped in the dusty atmosphere. Aubrey… she’d been holding a lot back, hadn’t she? Even after her outburst in the hospital, there was something else… 

Not his time to ask, she’d probably kick him if he tried, judging by how much force she put into breaking the lock. There was still dust slowly falling in the air…

“Let’s get out of here.” 

Kel didn’t bother to argue.

The house just felt… dead. The bottom of the stairs where they were sat felt  _ heavy _ , like something was weighing down on them from all angles.

“I don’t even want to go back upstairs… after we stayed the night.” Kel said, “But… we should, I think. I didn’t look around a whole lot while I was in there.”

“Can… Can you do it yourself? I need a minute.” Aubrey replied, staring at her shoes. 

She wasn’t pretending to be strong right now.

“Yeah, of course.” Kel nodded, slowly going up the stairs. Some were far more creaky than others… how did he not notice it the last time he was here? Was it just how tense he was right then? It… unsettled him. 

Sunny’s room was about how they’d left it. The pillow fort that Kel had constructed was haphazardly splayed across the floor. 

Did… did they do something wrong that night? Is that why Sunny felt the only option left was to die? 

On the dresser, Kel caught the blinking light of the phone in his room. 

A voicemail.

He felt his heart rate spike. His breathing become rapid.

The sweat beginning to clam up his hands.

He picked it up and listened to the voice mail.

“Sunny, don’t forget that today’s your last day to finish those chores! If everything goes well, I should be there to pick you up by tomorrow evening. I found a lovely place in the city… I think you’ll really love it. You’ve been cooped up in there for so long, I really think someplace new would be good. It’s only one story, but… it’s just the two of us now, isn’t it? It should be fine. I love you Sunny! I’ll see you sooner than you know.” 

Sunny’s mom. The call ended with a distinct clack and beep. It was over.

She didn’t know what had happened when she left this voicemail. Did she even know now? Surely she did, the police would have had to have informed her by now. Was… was she even alive? What if… what if she took her own life when she heard the news? Both of her children gone… and after what their dad did…

Kel was lucky the house’s water was still running.

He didn’t remember when he’d started vomiting from stress.

When he was little, he’d sometimes work and play and run until he puked, but that was different. He was pushing himself, going ahead of what even his own body could take. 

This was different. This was foul. 

There was no way Aubrey didn’t hear it. 

She was giving him the same space he was giving her.

Thank God.

If he had to explain it… he didn’t know if he could. It was sweet, despite how things had turned out… it  _ sounded _ genuine. Like she truly loved him. Did she just have no idea what to even do? Maybe… he needed to call her back. Just to see if she was alive. 

No. He couldn’t. Not him. He… he could ask his parents, but…

He was too weak to be there when it mattered.

For Mari, for Aubrey, for Hero, for Sunny, and now for their mother.

Just letting down one more person.

He swished around water from the tap in his mouth, just to get the taste of his own stomach acid off of his tongue. 

Aubrey was looking over her shoulder at him when he opened the door. She nodded silently. When did they get back to this point of silent understanding? They always bickered, but when things were bad they could both just… tell. 

It was something positive at least. 

He didn’t want to lose another friend. Not after… not after Sunny.

There were too many screwed up things in this town to let Aubrey have to suffer alone again. He wouldn’t, he… he couldn’t. 

He was always good at learning what was important to him.

“Kel… maybe we should go get Hero.”

“He’ll come here when he’s ready… I think.” Kel answered, “I just wonder if we really should have come here.”

“Do these stairs feel… off to you too?” Aubrey asked, letting the question hang in the air for a few moments. “For some reason, the last few days… I’ve just had an awful feeling on stairs, and these ones… these ones are the worst.”

“Now that you mention it… yeah. It’s like there’s just… something behind you, pressing down on you.”

“Do you…” Aubrey paused, looking away from him. She gripped the guardrail with enough force that her knuckles were turning white. “Do you think this is where Mari really died? Not on the tree, but… right here.” 

She pointed to a spot at the bottom of the stairs.

“I don’t know.” Kel answered, “I’m sorry Aubrey.” 

“There’s a lot of things we both have to apologize for now, huh?”

“You could say that, yeah.”

“Are we… still friends Kel?” Aubrey asked, finally looking back up at him as he walked down the stairs. 

“Yeah. I don’t doubt it at all anymore. You’re my friend Aubrey. I’m not going to abandon you again.”

“I’ll… hit you with the bat if you do.” 

“Wanna go grab it? Just in case?”

Aubrey finally let herself laugh, even if only for a few short moments. 

“No. I… I don’t need it right now. I  _ shouldn’t _ have it right now.”

They sat in silence for a few moments. 

Then a thought popped into Kel’s head.

Sunny was messing with something in the treehouse.

That was one of the last things they did.

Kel stood up, walking out towards the back door. 

He didn’t know what he wanted to find… something, anything.

Something to help him move on.


	5. Something is Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basil is alone again. 
> 
> Like he always was.
> 
> Something will make sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art at the end of the chapter was done by konekonorenkinjutsushi on instagram (Konekonorenkinjutsushi#3894 on Discord)  
> Make sure to tell them thanks if you see them because you can probably do it better than me

The hospital was lonely… So, so lonely. Something just wouldn’t leave him alone, either…

Why… 

Why would Sunny leave him to face it alone? To carry _their_ burden? He couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

He thought Sunny cared about him. It was the only reason he had been able to keep going all these years. Sunny trusted him. Sunny needed him. Sunny would be there for him when the time came…

And now he was dead... by his own hands. He threw himself off, doing everything in his power to get away from… something. 

That had to be it. 

Sunny was trying to get away from something again. It had followed him these last four years… 

And he hadn’t been there to help him. And now… now he told Hero. Hero knew. Hero was going to hate him now. He messed up the one thing he had left to do… but why?

Was it because, deep down, he thought that Sunny didn’t care?

The welts on his head seemed to indicate so, the scratches on his arms indicated it, the…

The pain in his heart indicated it. 

Had… had Sunny really just been using him?

There was no way, right? 

He wouldn’t, Sunny was too kind. He was too kind. He was too kind. Repeat it like a mantra until it sticks. Until you believe it. 

Sunny was too kind. Sunny was too kind. Sunny was too kind. 

Sunny… was… too… kind…

He hadn’t slept since he’d woken up at midnight, had he? It was getting late now… his body just wasn’t meant to last that long. He’d always been a napper…

But something would be waiting for him in his dreams. 

He had to stay awake, no matter what… 

Or else it’d kill him too.

Sunny was stronger than Basil was… yet something won over him. Something forced him to that roof… to that railing. Something forced him to jump. Sunny would never do that. Sunny would never leave him if he had a choice.

Right?

He wasn’t going to be in here much longer, thankfully, but… how could he go on now? It wasn’t like he had any sort of plan for his own life. Trying to hold on to Sunny was all he had and he screwed it up. He screwed up the only thing he had been really devoting himself too…

He was pathetic. 

He didn’t have anyone left that he could talk to, he’d held back so much for when Sunny would come back, when they’d finally be alone… but Sunny ran away. He left him in the bathroom to face… something. He’d been fine but… why? Sunny came for him in the night but he just… attacked him. It wasn’t to save him, at least, by what Basil could tell. It was hard to distinguish what was real and what was fake. Maybe… 

Maybe he pushed Sunny over the edge and he was too sick in the head to even remember. 

What Basil made him do to Mari… that would have been enough on its own. 

Did cutting his eye make it harder for him to fight back against something in his dreams? 

Did…

Did he kill Sunny?

He needed something to say, someone to talk to, someone to tell him that he wasn’t crazy, that he was doing the right thing. That’s what he was doing, right? He was just protecting Sunny. He just wanted to help. To make sure his friend was safe. Mari… something else killed Mari. Keeping his friend safe was all that mattered. It was all that mattered now. 

It was all he had left of Sunny now. Sunny had the photo album before he died… where was it now? Did the police have it? Did the hospital have it? Did… Did Sunny throw it out? It wasn’t out of the question, Sunny… no. No. It wasn’t Sunny. It was him. He blacked out the photos. He had to remember. He had to protect Sunny. 

The only one who’d ever really listened to him.

The only one who was always patient with him.

The only one who loved to sit and listen to him talk about the grass, the trees, the flowers, the ferns, the weeds… every single plant around them.

He was worth protecting.

Even…

Even if it would cost Basil his life too. 

Sunny wasn’t leaving him behind… he was pulling him forwards. Towards a better place.

Towards Mari.

Where they could all be happy. 

_What the hell was he thinking?_

_Something killed Sunny. Remember that. If you die, you can’t protect Sunny. They’re going to find the pieces and they’re going to hate him. They have to hate you instead. Just like they used to. You were good at that. You’re only good as a punching bag. As a pathetic wimp for other people to throw around, to hit, to steal from, to spit on. That’s your purpose, Basil. You’re going to do it again. You’re going to do it for Sunny._

_You love Sunny._

_Sunny… cared for you, even if he didn’t love you back._

_That’s fine, you knew it wouldn’t ever happen._

_You accepted it._

_It didn’t change your resolve at all for four years, why would it now?_

“I was the one who covered up Mari’s death. Just me.” Basil said out loud. “I… I was the one who covered up Mari's death. Just me.” 

He repeated the phrase over and over. If he could just convince himself, then it wouldn’t be hard to convince them. 

He just… had to pretend to come clean.

Besides, if they found out… then they’d hate him for lying and Sunny’s part will be forgotten. It’s… It’s all he has left now. 

_It’s all he has left._

_It’s all he has left._

Something is here.

_It’s all he has left._

It’s coming for him.

_It’s all he has left._

Something is cutting into his arms with its tendrils, gnawing at his body with its teeth.

_It’s all he has left._

Something is there with him. It’s going to stay there until he dies. 

_It’s all he has left._

_It’s all he has left._

If you repeat it enough, it becomes true. 

_Sunny loved him._

_Sunny loved him._

_Sunny… loved… him…_

_Something loved him._

_Something is here._

_Something does not love him anymore._

_Something is going to make him suffer._

__


	6. We're Both Still Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kel finds a memento in the treehouse, and him and Aubrey finally begin to truly patch up what the last few years did to them.

The treehouse...

Why did Kel bring her back here? 

It was still dilapidated, Mr. Plantegg still sat faded off to the side (poor guy), and…

The crushing feeling in her chest hadn’t gone away.

After everything that had happened, this place just hurt to be in. Doubly so now, even. So why? Kel was upset about  _ something _ , so what was the point? They’d already searched in here with… him. 

There wasn’t anything left to find. At least, there shouldn’t be. Anything valuable more than likely would have been stolen after four years, or broken beyond repair. Kel hoisted himself up the ladder, quickly scampering inside. Aubrey climbed up after him, not wanting to be out of the loop. He was looking inside of the rough cabinets they had added in there, and along the shelves.

“What are you even looking for?” Aubrey muttered, looking over Kel’s shoulder.

“Look, I might sound crazy, but I swear he was messing with something over here last time we were here. Like… while we were looking over all of our old things, he wasn’t interested until we found the photo, and HE was the one who found it over here… I think.”

“You… think…”

“It’s just fuzzy in my head, okay?” Kel sighed, “I just want to find  _ something _ , you know? Like…” 

Kel went silent. 

“Kel?” Aubrey asked, “Did you find something?”

He just nodded, and drew out a key. It was familiar, but… what would it be doing in the treehouse? They never had anything locked up here. Kel flipped the key around in his hands, like he was trying to remember what it was for. With nothing left to go on, he just sighed, and slid it into his pocket. They’d figure it out later, it seemed. 

“It might not even be his, you know.” Aubrey said.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Kel replied, visibly unconvinced. Was he keeping it as a memento then? Surely there were better options? “Let’s just… Let’s just get out of here. Sorry.” he muttered, stepping past her and quickly going down the ladder and into the clearing. Aubrey sat at the edge of the platform that supported the tree house, watching Kel just… stare out at the clouds. Something was on his mind… maybe he really knew what the key went to? 

The treehouse… it was so lifeless with only the two of them. It was crushing just being near it, much less inside it. Their old lives were gone now, hell, in her case the old her was gone. She wasn’t a happy kid anymore, she was an angry nuisance who went and caused trouble… she dragged her new friends into trouble and pushed her old ones into worse. 

Sunny… Sunny’s death was hitting her harder than she wanted to admit. 

The outburst was proof of that to Basil, Hero and Kel, no doubt.

Four years is a long time to pine for someone, especially if they show themselves again just to stab you and jump off a building a few days later.

After killing someone who was more of a parent to you than either of your actual parents. 

This treehouse just oozed memories of the two of them. Mari’s smile, Sunny’s warm hugs… It hurt. But… she had to be strong. That’s what Mari would say, right? 

But she wasn’t strong. 

Physically maybe, but all she could do now was pretend she was okay. 

It’s all any of them could do, and some were better than others. 

The argument with Hero the night before flashed into her mind, if she could even call it that. She just went off on him for no damn good reason. And… he didn’t even bother to fight back. 

All she seemed to be good at was hurting her friends. 

Kel looked back at her, waving for her attention. Time to go, it seemed. She went down the ladder and walked over to where Kel was standing. 

“Hey.” he said simply as she got close. 

“Yeah, hey.” 

They stood in silence. It wasn’t like they had anything to say…at least, that they could even begin to explain. Her thoughts were still… everywhere. Kel had evidently picked up on how she was feeling though… he just silently nodded at her. 

They were in the same situation. 

“Are we ever going to be alright now?” Kel sighed, looking back up at the sky. It hadn’t felt like long, yet the sun was already on its way towards the horizon, turning the world around them more and more orange.

“Beats me.” Aubrey answered after a brief delay. “I don’t know if I can even start to heal yet.”

“We still aren’t even over Mari yet, are we?”

“No. No we aren’t… and that doesn’t seem to be changing soon either.”

The sounds of a summer evening flowed around them, helping to lift the weights from their chests. At least, it did hers. Kel stuck his hands in his pockets, letting his shoulder muscles relax. 

“I think we should just… get out of here. For today at least, you know? We’re just making it worse for ourselves being here… Making it harder to think.” 

“Where else  _ can _ we go though? It feels like every single place in this town carries some kind of painful memory now. Even… even my own house.” Kel replied, “I just want them back, you know? Sunny’s only been gone for a day and I miss him already. I was so happy to see him again, like… like things could start to go back to being almost normal again. That… maybe we would all be happy again, even if he was moving away. Just knowing that he cared helped.”

“I was just… angry at him. So, so angry. I just wanted him to be here for us… for  _ me _ . So that we could help each other… and I…” 

The tears were back. She fell back into the grass, lowering onto her back to stare at the sky. The wind blown blades of grass tickled at her skin, though it did nothing to change the thoughts running through her mind. 

“Aubrey…” Kel whispered, sitting down in the grass next to her. “You weren’t lying when you said you loved him, were you?”

“Of course not. I… I wouldn’t have freaked out like that otherwise.” 

A warm hand rested on her shoulder. 

“It’s okay to cry, Aubrey,” Kel said, “You’re safe here.” 

“You should take your own advice too, you know.” Aubrey sniffed, wiping away her tears even as more fell down the sides of her face.

“Maybe. Don’t know how to uncork it though.”

“I didn’t really get a choice, just kinda happened,” she sighed, “It’s… cathartic I guess, but it doesn’t fix a damn thing. Sunny… Sunny still left us behind. Not even, he fought to get away from us, like he hated us. I just… don’t know why.”

“Regardless of what we find out about Mari’s death, from Basil or his house… we’ll never know what was going through his head then. I didn’t think he’d do that either…”

“I thought he trusted us, that even after all this he still cared. Part of me wants to believe it still, screaming that there was something else wrong, but… I just can’t be sure. That’s the part I hate most. If he was alive we could ask him, we could hug him and cry and talk for hours and hours and hours until we could do just…  _ something _ for him. Obviously we can’t fix what happened, but…” Aubrey ranted, choking down sobs. It hurt. It hurt to be like this. She hated being  _ weak _ , but… she needed to be if anything was going to change. 

The sounds of summer came back, now with the tears of a heartbroken teenage girl lost in the cacophony of insects, birds, and wind. 

Watching the clouds go overhead let her focus, even if just for a few moments. Her breathing was ragged like she’d ran for miles, but in reality she was just mentally drained. 

“Hey, we should get you more clothes for the next few days. I’ll… I’ll find a way to get mom to let you stay. You don’t belong in a house like that.”

“What, are we family now?” she chuckled softly, “You don’t have to, seriously. Not like your mom wants a piece of shit delinquent around.”

“Aubrey, my mom likes you, you know. She used to sometimes say you were like the daughter she didn’t have before Sally was born, that isn’t something she says lightly. And if you want to be all self defeating you can just help with whatever I agree to doing.” Kel said, “Besides, it’s not like your sorry excuse for a mother would even notice.”

“Jeez, tone the sappiness down. Save some of that for Hero, you’re gonna have to convince him to stay on the couch or give up your bed.” she said. “But… thanks Kel. Really.”

“It’s what I should have done ages ago.” Kel sighed, “Don’t thank me for it.”

“Shut up with the self defeating shit, Kel. It’s not like we were exactly the best of friends for a while.”

“We could have been though. We just… didn’t.”

“We have more important things to figure out now than that. We’re both still here.”

“Yeah… Yeah we are.” Kel sighed. “We… have some real catching up to do, huh?”

“Yeah. We’ll have to get to that soon.”

Sobbing had left the sounds of summer, and underneath the buzz of life was the buzz of two old friends truly opening back up to each other. 


	7. I Miss You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hero has a moment to himself outside Mari and Sunny's house.

Hero stood outside the door to his ex-neighbor’s house. He… he couldn’t step inside. He couldn’t bring himself to even knock on the door. He had been in there just two days ago… what was so hard now? 

He had a very strong idea as to why, it just… 

He shook his head. No. When Kel and Aubrey were done they’d leave. He had enough to process without tearing open wounds that were barely scabbed over. Maybe… 

Maybe tomorrow. Or the day after.

Maybe never. 

Fuck this house. 

Fuck the for sale sign at the street. 

Fuck whatever ended up with the love of his life and her little brother dead. 

Fuck-

“Calm down, Hero. Breathe.” he ordered himself, clapping his face between his hands.

Okay. 

He could poke around while he waited, that or just walk home, it was only a few meters away, but...

Hero’s legs carried him around the side of the house towards… the stump. 

The stump of the tree where he’d seen Mari. 

The stump of the tree where he saw Sunny crying at her feet. 

Why did everything associated with this house seem to have something awful attached to it? 

His legs brought him closer. 

Hero stared down at the rings of the stump, he was close enough to count them. 

Why hanging? 

It was finally clicking in his head… Sunny killed Mari. Basil was there. Mari’s body was hanged. But… Sunny was in so much pain… He wouldn’t have been able to do that to her.

Not without someone to make him.

Basil. Basil had helped him hang Mari… or he had done it himself. 

What if Sunny was lying? 

But why would he? 

No… he couldn’t doubt what he knew. He’d think himself in circles until he lost it.

He needed to put together one thing...

What happened that night?

He needed Basil to tell him.

Hero sat down on the stump.

Basil said that he wanted to help Sunny… did he cover it up then? 

The more he thought on it, the less it made sense. 

Mari killing herself… it broke him, it didn’t make sense for her, but it was understandable. If you could tell someone was going to kill themselves every time, it would never happen, not intentionally anyways.

This mess of a death… a murder and a coverup… 

2/3rds of that coverup were dead and the only one alive would never probably reveal the whole truth. 

“I’m so sorry Mari…” Hero whispered to himself, letting sadness replace his anger. He failed her, one way or the other. If she really did commit suicide, that much was obvious. Even if she didn’t, he failed by not protecting Sunny, Kel, Aubrey or Basil, by not finding out the truth. 

He needed her. 

She was… always so much more logical than him. So much more patient. She had a knack for people’s emotions… Well, his emotions at least. She could tell how he felt at just a glance. Whenever he was down, she’d always find him and make him smile. All it took was her presence.

And she died that night. 

He needed to move on, but a part of him would scream at him whenever he tried, like finding someone else was disrespecting her memory, disrespecting her. Forgetting about her would be to spit on her grave, on all the memories they had, of the evenings they spent in each other's embrace. 

Fucking hopeless. 

He was a failure. 

Grades wouldn’t bring Mari back. A med degree wouldn’t bring Mari back. All the money in the world could never bring her back. He lost someone irreplaceable. 

He’d give anything now to swap places with her. 

There were thousands of people like Hero out there, boys and young men putting up a front that they were in control, that they knew what they wanted, that they were strong. 

There had only been one Mari. 

Now there was zero.

There was a light tap on his shoulder.

Hero whipped around, jumping away from the stump like he was stabbed.

There was nothing there, even if he had felt something behind him. 

“Mari?” he whispered, slowing his breathing. There was no response, there was nothing there after all. Hero shivered, despite the fact that it was still warm even for the evening.

Something was screwing with him now, whatever it was. He didn’t believe in the paranormal, but… 

Sunny and Basil’s hallucinations might have had something behind them. 

He sighed deeply.

One weird event and he instantly snaps to ghosts. Incredible. 

Maybe he just wanted Mari to be back, regardless of how.

“Hero?” Kel said, making Hero jump for a second time.

“K-Kel!” Hero replied, trying to force himself to stay composed. He had to be strong. Even if it was the face of something silly.

Judging by the look on Kel’s face though, he wasn’t convinced in the slightest.

Crap.

Aubrey was walking up behind him, her eyes red and puffy. She’d been crying recently… very recently. 

“We can talk later,” Hero began, “Not… Not here. Alright?”

The two nodded before Aubrey began to speak, “We’re going to get me more clothes and some of my stuff.”

“Stealing my bed for longer?”

“Nope! You get it back.” Kel interjected, “I want the couch this time.”

“Not a chance.”

“Pet Rocks?”

Saying no was a loss, yet Hero had learned after probably hundreds of attempts that Kel was infinitely better at Pet Rocks than he would ever be. 

“Fine.” he sighed, “Don’t blame me when your neck cramps.” 

“If you can get me to admit to it.” Kel said with a smirk. He was trying his best to put on a front again… just like he was. They were a lot more similar than Hero had ever really noticed.

“I’ll be waiting for you guys then.” Hero said, “I’d say don’t take too long, but…”

“Yeah, trust me... We want to spend as little time there as possible too.” Aubrey groaned, rubbing at her eyes. 

“See you guys.” Hero said with a wave. 

Then they were gone. 

Hero looked back at the stump. 

“If that was you Mari… I miss you.” Hero whispered. 

He… he should bring her flowers again. That’s what people did to move on, right? To let their pain slowly turn to a calm remembrance.

Now… now he’d have to do the same for Sunny. 

Hero was the second person to cry in that backyard that evening.


	8. Don't You Remember?

Night was falling again.

The second night without Sunny.

Aubrey coughed, the only option in the moment aside from a sob. 

She… she wanted him back. What would be so cruel to give him back for just a few days only to snatch him away forever? What was there to even learn from this? The TV remained off in Kel and Hero’s house. Nobody wanted to take the risk of seeing news coverage of his death. Pointless, considering they’d all replayed it in their minds by now, but… 

She needed a shower. She never got to enjoy them in her own house, but maybe… 

“Kel, where are your towels?” she asked, standing on the first step of the stairs. 

“Closet in the bathroom.” he replied from the living room. 

Aubrey closed the bathroom door behind her with a sigh. She wish she got to enjoy showers more. When she was little she was held to a VERY strict time limit, and more recently the entire house, including the bathroom, was such a shitshow that in order to get clean she’d have to spend an hour cleaning before she could shower most times. At least she got to see her bunny again today… Thankfully Kim was willing to take care of her for the time being. If something happened to Butterscotch right now…

Not worth thinking about.

Kim was reliable… she’d have to try and tell her some of what’s been going on really soon. She… she was worried, even if most of the hooligans didn’t seem to be all that concerned. 

They thought she was impenetrable still, didn’t they? Even after the freakout…

Aubrey could be angry, she couldn’t be sad. She never regretted anything, she would always bring them ahead anytime something happened…

But that was a lie.

Not an intentional one, just a side effect of the persona she’d built. 

It was only ever made to fool herself…

The surge of hot water on her face brought her back to reality. Why were Kel and Hero’s parents being so nice to her? She’d have to ask them later, and thank them as profusely as she could. Warm showers were calming, a steaming hot one even more so. 

“Scrub the grime away, and you’ll feel better.”

It was something she’d muttered to herself ever since she was little… no point in changing by now. Just an odd habit, on top of hundreds of other, far odder habits that come from living in such a shithole of a house. Wiping or cleaning her hands often, being silent just by habit, tugging out your own hair, scratching under your nails constantly to get the seemingly endless grime out. Everywhere in her house aside from her room was filthy, unlivable to anyone but the highest of drunks. Genuinely, she was shocked that her mother’s habit of mixing drugs with alcohol hadn’t killed her already. Part of her, (a very large part), actively hoped for it.

Not that she could really blame her mother for collapsing like that, all things considered, but it didn’t mean she didn’t resent her for it.

She hated that. She wanted to hate her mother with every part of her left. Hate her for neglecting her, for not being a damn parent the last three years, but there was always some part of her that would make an excuse.

Something that would excuse why she was living like she did.

“Scrub the grime away, and you’ll feel better.” she repeated to herself, louder this time.

She could go back to introspection after the shower was over. She stuck her head under the stream of water, letting the rain of droplets drown out her thoughts.

Leaving the shower and sliding into clean pajamas, Aubrey wrapped another towel around her hair and made her way downstairs. Hero and Kel were both still down there.

She could tell from the tension between them that they still hadn’t said anything.

“Hey.” she said flatly, leaning against the entrance to the living room. Both brothers silently looked up at her. 

“Did you enjoy your shower?” Hero awkwardly asked. So he was aware of the mood too then. 

“Yeah, thanks.”

The silence fell over everyone again. 

Everyone there had something to say, but nobody wanted to speak.

“So.” Kel began, “Do… any of us want to say anything?”

Nobody said a word.

“Then let’s go to sleep. I think we’ve done enough investigating for two days. Tomorrow we can just… try to relax.” Kel muttered. Aubrey and Hero nodded.

Everyone was drained for the day already. 

“Here, let me make something to eat.” Hero said, standing up from the couch and moving into the kitchen. Any excuse to get out of the room, it seemed. 

At least the food turned out good.

Aubrey treaded up the stairs, continuing to the room Hero and Kel still shared after all this time.

She never usually slept before eleven, much less before nine, but…

She was exhausted. 

She curled up into Kel’s bed, and within minutes sleep had taken its hold over her.

“Hello Aubrey.” Sunny said, staring at Aubrey as she opened her eyes. She was in his room, resting on the floor. 

“S-Sunny?” she stammered, looking him over. He was entirely devoid of color, but… it was him. 

Sunny nodded in response, reaching out his hand.

She slowly accepted it, being brought to her feet. 

“Is it… everything you wanted? Living with Mari and I, I mean.” Sunny whispered, his cheeks flushing a light gray despite his cold, emotionless voice.

“M-Mari’s here?”

“Of course she is. Don’t you remember?”

Of course she didn’t, why would she be living with two dead people?

“No, s-sorry.” Aubrey stuttered, taking her hand away and stepping to the door.

“Are you going to leave me to take myself away again?” 

Aubrey stopped, her hand shaking on the doorknob. 

“You’re already gone. That’s what I remember.”

“You don’t have to remember.”

Her throat was sealed, unable to say anything. She had to get out. 

She opened the door to step out onto the roof of the hospital. The grayed out Sunny leaned on the railing. 

“Things didn’t have to end like this, you know. If you were, say, a better friend, a better person... anything aside from yourself really.” 

“We…”

“We? Are you going to split the blame on your ‘friends’ already?”

“Th-That’s not what I’m saying!” 

“Then say nothing, just like you always do. It’s what you’re good at, right? Leave everyone else behind, attack them… just like you attacked me and Kel. You think he’s your friend? Why would anyone want to be your friend?”

The thing that looked like Sunny approached her.

“Why don’t you see what happens to your ‘friends’, Aubrey?” it said, pointing at the railing.

She knew exactly what would be at the bottom. 

She didn’t have control anymore. 

Her legs dragged her to the edge.

Her arms pulled her unwilling head over the edge to peer down.

Sunny was at the bottom.

Just as the last time she’d seen him.

A broken pulp of a human being. 

Suddenly, she was shoved over the edge, hurtling towards the same spot Sunny lay. 

She was falling, falling, falling, falling, fall-

“AUBREY!” Hero yelled, snapping her awake. She was hyperventilating. She hadn’t been like this since she was a child, and…

She couldn’t tell if the wetness on her face was the sweat that covered every part of her body or tears. A warm, almost reassuring hand was resting on her shoulder. 

“It’s okay, Aubrey.” Hero whispered, only to be put into stunned silence as Aubrey latched onto him with a hug. 

He was real. 

She was awake. 

It was just a dream. 

“S-Sorry.” she whispered, sitting back down on the bed, “What time is it?”

“Uhh… five in the morning.” Hero said, reading the clock in the room. 

“Right.” she replied, grabbing the bag of her clothes and pulling out something fresh. Without another word, she walked to the bathroom to change into something that wasn’t sticking to her body. 

So much for a nice shower to wake up clean in the morning.

So much for… 

She starred in the mirror.

She was real. She was alive. She had to stay that way for as long as she could.

That’s what the real versions of  _ them _ would have wanted.

Right?


	9. Smile, Smile, Smile, Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kel takes care of Sally, and has a few thoughts about dreams.

Kel was a heavy sleeper. Everyone knew it. He was proud of it.

Even he woke up when Aubrey started screaming.

Granted, he was in the most open part of the house save the hallway, but… 

Well, better make sure Sally didn’t start crying…

Exhaustion still bit at his limbs, but significantly less than the night before. Sally was relaxed, oddly enough, and after a few moments of rocking she drifted back to sleep.

Kel never really considered how odd it was to be the middle child now. After fourteen years of being the youngest, he never even really considered getting another sibling. But… for some reason, he didn’t care. He didn’t mind. He loved Sally, even if she was louder than he was most of the time. Caring for her just felt right.

Being an older sibling was a lovely feeling.

Hero must’ve felt the same way sometimes, right?

And… 

Kel’s expression darkened as he looked over to where Sally lay in her crib, back sound asleep, a rare snore or smack of lips being the only noise she made.

Mari and Sunny.

Everything around him seemed to bring back some kind of memory or thought of them, of both of them. It was easier when it was just Mari, when he could hold onto the hope that he’d see Sunny again and everything would be okay.

“They say bad things come in threes, huh…” Kel muttered to himself. The words felt heavy on his tongue, yet letting them out didn’t release the tension.

Basil. 

Why did Basil have shears in his room that night? Kel hadn’t noticed anything like it the last time he had been in there. It could have happened between when he visited and spent the night, but…

Why?

The creak of the stairs informed him that someone was coming down the stairs, but he didn’t particularly care at that moment. 

Could Basil be in danger? He was still at the hospital, wasn’t he? The same place they’d left Sunny to take his own life. 

How was that even possible? Aren’t alarms sounded if someone takes off their heart rate monitor? He remembered Hero talking about it over the phone one time, complaining about hospital dramas. Why Hero was watching hospital dramas in the first place was beyond him, but that wasn’t as important right now.

It shouldn’t have been so easy for him to do it.

Someone should have stopped him.

He should have stopped him. Aubrey and him were the strongest of the three, even if Hero was the oldest. Hero wasn’t an athlete, he’d never been. Kel and Aubrey were. Sunny was a shut-in who more than likely hadn’t exercised a day in four years and eaten maybe once or twice a day. It didn’t make sense how he was able to get away. 

He should have been stronger, and then he could have saved his friend. 

Was… it a mistake to try and get Sunny to come out? 

Sally’s hands grasped at the air, like she was reaching for something she couldn’t find.

What were her dreams like? They had to be scary sometimes, for her to wake up crying like she did so often. But… what was she dreaming about right now to be so peaceful? Was she even truly dreaming yet?

Dreams… When did he start thinking so much about dreams? 

This was hurting more than even he realized yet.

He was able to keep up when Mari died, hold fast, yet it burned now like a hot iron.

They both had dreams. Big dreams. Mari wanted to be famous, to get married to Hero and go live somewhere beautiful with him. He’d acted all grossed out when she said it, but… she was being genuine. Kel knew that. Hero knew that. Sunny… never talked much about his, but he’d wanted to change the world. Somehow, he wasn’t sure yet then, but for the better. To make people smile in the way he wished he was able to consistently. Kel… Kel was so proud of him then. He crushed him in a hug and said “Don’t worry Sunny, I’m gonna help you make everyone smile!”

Both those dreams… both those dreams were gone now, taken with the people who had them. Mari would never get married to Hero. Mari would never be famous. Sunny… Sunny tried his best. 

It was too sobering for Kel when he wasn’t drunk on anything to begin with.

He needed to talk about it, right? That's how you get better. You just talk about how you feel and you feel better.

But Kel knew better than that already.

Hero had let everything out, screamed and cried and almost fought, and yet with time the wound scabbed over and everything was bubbling up underneath again. 

It was bubbling inside Kel too.

Anger.

He was angry. 

Why?

He was sad and distraught, yet part of the feeling he couldn't place was anger.

He was angry at Sunny. 

But he didn't hate Sunny.

Sunny… was living with his guilt all those years. Why else would he do that? If he didn't care he would have carried on like usual. Like…

Like he had when Mari died.

No guilt was on him, so he went on like nothing was wrong. Was it a lie, or just a consequence of ignoring his problems?

He couldn’t face them now because of it.

Kel pictured Sunny’s face in his mind. Whenever Sunny smiled it was an event worth a celebration. It was a nice smile, just like his sister’s, but all the greater since it was so rarely seen. Kel…

Kel smiled a lot, but he never felt the same impact. He always smiled, even when he was hurting. Scraped his knee? Smile. Bad cut? Smile. Broken wrist? Smile.

Smile, Smile, Smile, Smile.

It looked fake to him whenever he saw his reflection, regardless of how genuine it was. Mari smiled because she loved being around them. Sunny smiled when he was so happy it broke through his usual flat expression. Kel just smiled. 

Sally… Why would she smile? 

Another set of footsteps went down the stairs, except instead of continuing to the living room, whoever it was walked in the room with him. 

Kel opened his eyes and looked up to see Hero. 

They looked at each other for a few moments before Hero began to speak, “Sorry for having you up this early.”

“Come on Hero, I’m fine. Besides, why would you be apologizing?”

“Just… I feel responsible for you two is all.”

“These things aren’t your fault, Hero.” Kel said, gazing up at his brother. Hero swapped his balance to his other foot, clearly uncomfortable. “I’m not lying. You’re doing your best, bro.”

“If this is my best I’m fucked…” Hero sighed.

“It’s the best you can do with this, not your overall best doofus.” Kel said, laying on a teasing tone as thickly as he could. Hero snorted, but didn’t reply. “Tell you what, to make you feel better,  _ I’ll _ make breakfast.”

“Oh absolutely not, get in the dining room.” Hero said, turning around and leaving the room. Down or not, Hero would defend the stove from Kel yet.

Maybe… Maybe today would be a little better.


	10. Everything Is Going To Be Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basil can't escape from what lies behind him.

Basil stared at the tiled hospital floor. 

He counted the tiles, scanning along the floor row by row.

Focus. He has to stay awake. 

He could feel himself struggling to just stand in place, much less to walk. Polly was taking him home. Where he got Sunny killed. He didn’t want to. He wanted his Grandma to be leaving with him. He wanted to stay somewhere safe, where Something couldn’t find him, but that wasn’t an option. To do that he’d have to tell Polly. He couldn’t. 

He’d gotten two of his friends killed. 

If he’d been better, Sunny wouldn’t have had his freakout. Something wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the situation to kill Mari. But, if he’d been faster, maybe he could have stopped Mari before she hit the ground. She would have lived, maybe… 

If she lived, Sunny would be happy. 

If he’d helped Sunny after, maybe Sunny could have won against what was behind him. Maybe they could have destroyed both of them. Together. That’s what they needed, right? Then they’d be at peace. Mari would forgive them. It wasn’t their fault. It wasn’t their fault. It wasn’t their fault. It-

“Basil?” Polly said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He hated it. Nobody should be touching him. He didn’t deserve it. The last person he touched killed themselves. He… couldn’t have that happen to Polly too. She didn’t deserve to die. Sunny didn’t deserve to die. Mari didn’t deserve to die.

He did. His hands were stained with the blood of two people. Two people who meant the world to each other. 

“I know it’s hard, but… you aren’t going to get any better here. You need sleep.” Polly continued, lightly pulling him away. His legs obliged to avoid falling. Each step made a noise on the floor. Tip tap, tip tap, tip tap. 

Focus on the other things. 

Everything’s going to be okay. 

He could feel something watching him, waiting for him to fall asleep. 

Focus on the other things.

Everything’s going to be okay.

The car door closed with a familiar snap. The car was safe. Music lightly played from the radio. Rock music. It’d help him stay awake. Maybe he should try and find some for himself?

Something was watching him from the hospital doors. It was going to follow him home.

Focus on the other things. 

Everything’s going to be okay.

Sunny… Sunny didn’t die in your home. He died at the hospital. The place you were leaving. What you did to lead to it was there but… people curse the spots of death, right? The thing that stayed behind him would stay up where he… where he… 

Focus on the other things.

Everything’s going to be okay.

His plants were still okay, right? He was doing everything in his power to take care of them. They were all the friends he needed… They cared about him the same way he cared about them. They should get names, shouldn’t they? They didn’t mind not having any, but that didn’t mean it was right. Polly helped him to his room and into his bed.

He didn’t want to sleep.

Something would catch up to him.

Maybe… he could sleep before it did. It’d give him a better chance. More time away before it caught up to him. 

The way it caught up to Sunny. 

Focus on the other things.

Everything’s going to be okay.

His bed was always a place of comfort. His body sank into the mattress just right.

His fan, plastered with stickers of ferns, flowers, leaves and trees spun overhead, keeping the room at a comfortable temperature. Comfortable…

His eyes dragged shut. 

He hadn’t slept in a day… now bordering on a day and a half. He wouldn’t be able to last against it if it came for him like this. If it did…

The shears are gone.

He doesn’t have a weapon.

He can not defend himself. 

He can not kill himself to escape it.

He has nothing.

He is alone.

Aubrey, Hero and Kel wouldn’t be coming to save him. 

He killed Sunny. 

They knew that.

He hung Mari.

Hero had to know that now…

Why did he break so fast? 

He wanted to protect Sunny but… he screwed it up within the day.

He was a failure.

…

Something was here.

It caught up to him.

It was going to swallow him whole.

He couldn’t stay awake.

It was going to kill him.

He deserved it, right? 

Better it swallowed him whole than his own guilt. 

He opened his eyes.

It’s jaws were at his neck.

It was going to kill him.

Its eyes… All of them stared at him. Mocking him. Mocking his powerlessness. 

The jaws bit down.

His neck was being crushed.

It was not going to kill him quickly. 

It was going to make him suffer.

Suffer for what he’d done.

This is what Mari felt, didn’t she? With the jump rope around her neck? She wasn’t alive then… but this is what happened to her corpse. The corpse he hung from a tree.

Her and Sunny’s favorite tree.

The one they would fall asleep under in the summer.

The one him and Sunny read books under.

The one they cried under after what they’d done.

After what _he’d_ done.

Sunny was innocent.

Basil…

Basil was the one who got him to frame it.

Sunny tried to help her. Tried to help her rest, to heal. Like she’d start breathing again if she just slept it off. They’d miss the recital, but that could be rescheduled. Mari needed to be better first. 

Basil was the one who turned it into a murder.

Who hides the corpse of an accident but a murderer?

That was his fault.

This was all his fault.

He was going to die for it.

He needed the shears.

He couldn’t find them.

The crushing… why wouldn’t it stop? 

Why wouldn’t he just die?

Living was a curse. 

_He_ was a curse. 

Everyone he called a friend he’d ruined.

Hero hated him.

Aubrey hated him.

Kel hated him.

Sunny hated him.

Mari hated him.

He hated himself. 

Polly hated him.

He was a burden that he couldn’t even cut free now, only to slowly choke to death under the weight of what he’d done.

This… was… his…

Basil stopped thinking.

…

…

…

…

Welcome to White Space. 

This is your new home.

**Everything is going to be** **okay.**


	11. The Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hero tries to visit Basil to speak to him, but he hasn't woken up yet.
> 
> But... inside Basil's dreams...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter than some of the others, but god I just really wanted to get started on this scene

Hero left the house not long after finishing breakfast. He said he’d be back quickly, but… even he wasn’t sure if that would be true or not. It’d certainly be cold at the very least.

He needed to talk to Basil again, but he didn’t even know if Basil was back from the hospital yet. Rather than go all the way there just to check, he decided to stop at his house first. This house… just had an awful feeling to it now. So many happy and horrible memories strewn across one building, painting the walls with mixtures of love and regret. 

No wonder Basil was so miserable in the hospital, that on top of everything… knowing he’d have to go back to this house. 

But Basil also said there was something in there.

That Sunny… lost to something. 

What was it?

He knocked on the door, not wanting to ring the doorbell that early in the morning. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon. Oddly enough, the door opened within a few moments, and Polly revealed herself. 

“Oh, Hero…” she said, “Is anyone else with you?”

“No, they’re still eating breakfast.”

“What brings you here then?”

“I’m here to check on Basil, that’s all.”

“Oh, alright. He passed out pretty quickly after I brought him home, so he’s probably still asleep right now.”

“That’s fine, I just…” Hero started, before cutting himself off with a sigh, “There’s a lot going on right now, for everyone. I’ll wait on him to wake up if I need to, but I need to make sure he’s not…”

Polly just nodded. Thank God he didn’t have to say it.

“Come in then, I was fixing myself something to eat when you knocked.”

“Thank you, really.” Hero said, continuing past and going up the stairs. Basil’s room was unlocked, and Hero was able to let himself in. It was just as Polly had guessed, he was fast asleep. But… he looked so peaceful in rest. Like nothing was going on. He was breathing, Hero could see that much, but he wasn’t moving otherwise. 

“You must be really tired Basil, I know I am.” Hero chuckled. He hadn’t slept much at all. His own nightmares hadn’t gone away, making good sleep little but a forgotten wish. He wanted to be envious, but… it didn’t feel right to him at the same time. Basil always tossed and turned when he was asleep as far as Hero could remember. He might have gotten better over the years, but… 

“I’m not upset with you. Not… Not now.” He continued, closing the door behind him. “We don’t want to lose you too. Even if it hurts… I want to know what happened to Mari from you. Everything. I’ll… wait as long as I need to.”

Hero sat in silence for a few moments, taking it all in.

“You don’t have to suffer alone. I… I don’t want to suffer alone. I’m tired of that. I can’t move on like this. Constantly trying to judge what’s true or not is only a bit better than feeling responsible. I still do, you know? Like… if I’d been able to be there, maybe she’d still be there. We’d all still be happy.” 

He just kept talking. Without someone to respond to him, he had no reason to stop. Basil wasn’t stirring any time soon it seemed. Words just poured out of his mouth. Maybe Basil heard him, maybe he didn’t. It didn’t matter. He just needed to talk.

“I miss Mari, Basil. Too much. She… wanted to get married. I didn’t get it at the time, but… I think about it pretty often now. Even at 15, she was planning that far ahead. She said it in… in this house. Right downstairs. You remember, right? It was your twelfth birthday. Your happiest one ever, you said. Kel pointed out I’m still stuck in the past. He said it to everyone, but… it means the most to me. I still see you guys as my little siblings, not as the borderline adults you all are. You’re all older now than Mari and I were then.”

His head bumped against the wall as he leaned back. This room… it was filled with so many living things, yet it still felt so  _ dead _ . His rug was missing, most likely because it was… Where they found Sunny. Hero slid down the wall to a sitting position, staring up the ceiling fan as it spun. 

Dead, but comfortable. 

“I’ll be back soon, Basil. I promised not to leave you behind.” Hero finished, standing up to leave. He didn't want to, not yet, but Aubrey and Kel would go looking for him if he didn't.

* * *

The knocking at The Door finally ceased. Yew sighed in relief. No more threats. Nothing trying to take him from home. 

Yew was happy in White Space. It was filled with all of these plants, circling the home that was made for him. It was large, spacious, comfortable… everything a home needed. 

The outside was where the monsters were. They hated him. They wanted to hurt him.

His friends… his friends were here. Mari and Sunny lay resting in their beds. They’d wake up one day. They were his friends, even if he didn’t get to speak to them right now. 

Yew smiled again. The Door was just a reminder that he was safe. Nothing could come in here while it was closed. The white void around him was devoid of any monsters, only filled with endless fields of white grass. He hadn’t tried to run out yet, he wanted to save that for when Sunny and Mari woke up, that way it’d be an adventure for all of them. They must have been dreaming of him, right? 

Clear water poured from a spring next to a table containing all of his tools for plant care. The plants loved him, he could tell by how they’d jiggle and dance as he came to care for them. The hedge clippers hurt, but they knew it was for their health. The watering can gave them the life they needed to keep going, the life that kept Yew going. If his plants died, all he’d have are Mari and Sunny. That wouldn’t be fun. 

The plants… 

Yew took up a trowel. Time to add fresh dirt. Every time he turned away, a new bag seemed to appear, most likely because of Sunny. He was kind like that. If he did something nice, he wouldn’t even tell you. He’d just wait for you to find out and then he’d smile. Yew would always be able to tell because Sunny would smile. His name was apt, as it was like pure sunshine burning over him, regardless of how small it was. Yew loved Sunny. Sunny was always there to listen to Yew if he needed someone to talk to.

Mari was kind. She lit up a room she was in all the time, if not with her smile than with song. Her smile was just short of Sunny’s, but she loved to use it. Yew trusted Mari. She would always be there for him if he needed someone to help him.

Home is with them. They mean everything to Yew. Without them, Yew would have no home, nowhere to go. He had to be here to make sure they were okay. 

“Don’t worry guys…” Yew said, resting his hands on one of Sunny’s outstretched palms.

**“Everything is going to be okay.”**

  
  
  



End file.
